Saturday, June 29, 2013

Today's Pic

We're finally on the move.


No internet so the pics will load automatically for a few days.
It's been a while since we've traveled somewhere we've never been, we're excited.

When I remember how, I'll turn on the Spot Locator and post a link.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Today's Pic

Looking at this pic, I remember it was a damn hot, hazy day on the Chesapeake and the wind was blowing pretty good from the mouth of The Rappahannock River giving this sailboat a nice close reach with a good head of speed.
I'd noticed him off in the distance a couple of miles away and he was quickly approaching our starboard side.


Closer and closer he sailed directly towards our starboard. It appeared he was attempting to catch us and kept adjusting course and pointing in our direction, even as we motored at 9 knots. I thought he just wanted a look, but as he came within sight I could see someone standing on the bow waving his arms. Soon I could hear the cussing; ranting something about the right of way. My taking pictures seemed to send him back to the cockpit, but as we let him pass ahead of us, the whole crew gave us the one finger wave.
Finally figuring out the problem... we were dirtying his air.
Serious sailors on the Bay.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Give it up!

For one of my homeboys... Wayne Jackson
We came out of the same cotton patch.


Monday, June 24, 2013

Friday, June 21, 2013

We Bid Adieu

To Memphis and all that goes with it.
Again, we stayed longer than planned, but that's just what we do when we feel like it.
So we say goodbye with a photograph of a beautiful sunset over the Mississippi River; setting on the armpit of the Mid-South, my much maligned and deservedly so, hometown of West Memphis, Arkansas.



Now we're back aboard Istaboa and finishing up the small details in preparation for the start of another trip.
  • A diver coming today to clean the bottom and replace the zincs.
  • tweaking all electronic charts
  • polishing a couple hundred gallons of fuel
  • provisioning at Carmines for that hard to get stuff
  • I'm sure this list could go on and on
In the next few days we'll start our run north to wherever that takes us.
We have a new Granddaughter we've yet to meet. Maddie.

Adios... Adieu?

Later,

Istaboa

Today's Pic

For years... 1400+ nautical mile


and back. 1400+ nautical miles

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Today's Pic

is one of the first pics posted on this blog —


While doing this cruising thing, one runs across some very interesting folks.
I took this shot as our friend, Clyde, was departing a little marina in Mississippi, heading south for the Gulf of Mexico, and finally Guatemala.
Both my friend and I expected to see each other again soon, but circumstances tend to be unpredictable.
We never saw Clyde again... kinda sad... kinda not. We kept up via email for a while and he seemed to be making a place for himself and Mia on the Rio Dulche, but the emails stopped and ours were never answered.

Hope he's well.

Original post... follow this link http://istaboawaypoints.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-place-new-friends.html

Saturday, June 15, 2013

It'll never happen

Not in America


We've always known we are being snooped on.

Pokin' around

 

Sightseers park to watch a Stratocruiser taxi across an underpass in Queens, New York, March 1951.
Photograph by B. Anthony Stewart, National Geographic

scanzen.tumblr.com/

Today's Pic

Two Drifters
Green Turtle, Abacos, Bahamas

This was taken a few years ago, 2007 me thinks. 
We've kept in touch and once again bumped into Richard and Ronnie a few months ago.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Today's Pic


We're very relieved; the vet called yesterday and the removed growth from Radar's head was just a barnacle. So, after all that...  the worst he suffered was a really bad haircut. 
Thanks for all the well wishes.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Watch This —

It's Sunday Morning, go get a cup of coffee, kick back, click full screen, and watch this on as big a screen as you can.
It's truly awesome.




Saturday, June 8, 2013

Google Glass Demo






Forty percent of the U.S. residents surveyed said they wouldn’t buy Glass when goes on sale, while another 38 percent said they were undecided. When asked to name their reasons for not wanting Glass, the top three explanations offered were: the cost of Glass (37 percent thought it would “probably be too expensive"); their general lack of interest in using wearable technology of any kind (37 percent); and the perceived uselessness of Glass (31 percent said they “wouldn't know how to use it or what to use it for”).

Entertaining

Friday, June 7, 2013

not entertaining

I Guess The Buck Stops Here.

Many of you who read this blog have also gone on to read Marine Services Review. If you have, you know it was about accountability, or the lack of, in the Marine Services Business... or boat fixers is how I simply put it.

Well... something has gone awry.

I got a review comment a few days ago and I tried to log on and publish it, but a login box popped up I've never seen before.

 All the pictures you see on http://yachtblogs.com/ were taken by me and given, in good faith, to the former administrator of Yacht Blogs. In turn he gave me technical support while building Marine Services Review.

I typed in the user name and password as I have done in the past, but nothing happened. I hit cancel and got kicked out. Error 401 Authorization Required.
I searched for contact us and found nothing... I clicked features and

Error 404 - Page not found!



So I contacted Jacob, the fellow who convinced me to use Yachtblogs vs Blogspot, and he said he had sold it to someone and he didn't know how to contact them.
I sent a comment to another YachtBlogger and she told me the same thing was happening to her.
We've been locked out of our blogs and there is nothing, at this time, we can do about it.

Marine Services Review was about accountability... so I guess, with all said and done, I'm actually accountable for losing control of this review blog.
If you're a company that was reviewed, good or bad, and you've changed your ways, good or bad, I can't update my posted review. I apologize to those who have used this as a reference.

I promise to redo this blog using another, more stable, host. e.g. Blogspot

If you're the person or persons responsible for locking us out, shame on you. Consider this to be a bad review of Yachtblogs.

It won't be the first unless you give us back our sites.

What could anyone have to gain from this?

Oh yeah... Happy Weekend.



Cheers,

Istaboa

Today's Pic

In Braille —



I guess there are those who do read the articles...

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Today's Pic

 
Edwin Hubble — 1937

Ahhh... the good old days... when things were so simple... We did little things like stare at the stars —

Or dream of flying in space or even walking on the Moon —


And style?  Schmile...



Such an uncomplicated time.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Another Kickstarter Campaign

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/630664473/very-semi-serious
An offbeat documentary about humor, art and the genius of the New Yorker cartoon

Rinse

Rinse from Matthew Bayard on Vimeo.

Today's Pic

Looking west, out our window and over the rooftops of our neighbors, a storm was building in Arkansas and heading across the Mississippi in our direction. What appeared to be a funnel cloud turned out to be just a shadow. Still, it got our attention.
A pretty dramatic sky.



Our boy Radar is going under the knife today. A strange bump suddenly appeared on his head and the vet doesn't like the looks of it.

We have our fingers and toes crossed hoping it just a barnacle.


Tuesday, June 4, 2013

More Memphis Thangs

It was an excellent afternoon for taking pictures. There's something special about the late afternoon light that paints the buildings in downtown Memphis as the sun is shining it's last beams. Maybe it's the far angle of reflection off the river... don't know, but it's an interesting illumination.




As I stood along Front Street, composing a shot of an old building that once belonged to a friend's family, I noticed someone in a window looking down at me.

After snapping off a pic, I noticed this girl was not moving much... then I realized... Ha! 
Enlarge to check her out.

It's a joke... she's a manikin.
One more of the American Queen

Taken from the River Walk up on the bluffs, this photograph kinda says it all...
Memphis


Actually, I've got several more that make up a panorama of all that's Downtown Bluff City.


Cheers,

Istaboa


Today's Pic


Monday, June 3, 2013

Memphis Thangs

Being landlocked for a while, we've been doing our best to enjoy Memphis and it's accompanying lifestyle. It's an interesting old town that's managed to sustain it's patina. Hopefully our newest crop of city fathers will see fit to maintain it's greatest attribute.
Leaning skeptical, I sincerely doubt it.

Jack Tucker Alley


Downtown's alleys are the stuff of legends, which puts the late architect Jack R. Tucker Jr. in pretty good company.
The historic cobblestone alley that runs behind Tucker's residence in Cotton Row has been designated Jack Tucker Alley by the City Council.
"Jack considered everything important in designing a quality city," Jones said. "It's like Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley says. 'If you pay attention to the details, the big things will take care of themselves.'"
Tucker's widow, Cyndy Grivich Tucker, said, "That little alley is a great representation of his philosophy. It was never named, it's a forgotten piece of history, and it's something he cared so much about that he fought for so long to keep it. This isn't an honorary street naming. This is for real. It's something that will be in the map books."



Article from The Commercial Appeal 
By Wayne Risher — 2009

Today's Pic

I've always heard it said, "If you don't like the weather in Memphis, give it a day...".

Sunday, in contrast to Saturday, was a particularly beautiful day... that ended with a cool breeze and a warm light; perfect for shooting pics.

The American Queen was home and tied up at Beale Street Landing in all her glory.

She's a beauty.
As usual, I got lots of Memphis pics.



Love this camera.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Sunday, June 2, 2013

A Great Story

With video...



My brother forwarded this to me. It's pretty amazing so I imagine many have seen it. If you've not, watch this short documentary. It's about 20 minutes.

Spitfire 944

Today's Pic


Saturday, June 1, 2013

Rainy Days




On days like this we tend to kick off our shoes, get really lazy,  and do whatever we like in a quiet, almost vegetative state.
We watched a documentary last night, "Who is Harry Nilsson" and after it, we both wondered aloud why we'd never paid that much attention to him.
Guess in those days —the early 70s— we were crankin' it up and too... well... 70s to appreciate Harry's phenomenal vocal talents. "Me and My Arrow" was familiar as was "Everybody's Talkin" from Midnight Cowboy, but we never sat and listened to his records like we did others, or if we did we certainly don't remember it.
The doc was excellent and well worth the time.
Saying this guy was really talented is like saying Einstein was really good at math.




I went to iTunes and downloaded a large amount of his catalog.
"A Little Touch Of Schmilsson" is a collection of standards. For this album, he employed Frank Sinatra's conductor/arranger and band, as well as the London Philharmonic for strings. Incredible!
"Nilsson Schmilsson" was nominated for Album Of The Year and Harry won Male Pop Vocalist Performance for "Without You".

So today, being a rainy day, we chilled listening to Harry, I took a few pics, and Mel worked on her needlepoint Christmas stocking for our grandson Silas.



Harry provided the perfect background music for this day of slothitude.

Yep... still playin' with the new camera... the boys are willing subjects.

Cheers,

Istaboa

Today's Video

An extraordinary video that's actually a commercial by Volvo... Makes me want to drive a Volvo — in Sweden.


Stunning Pics directed by Adam Berg “Leave the World Behind” is not a documentary or another reunion tour from the Swedish DJ trio, but a unique music video featuring a brand new version of their 2009 collaborative EDM hit with Laidback Luke & Deborah Cox. In addition to featuring Lune in the updated version, Volvo Cars will also have a starring role in the music video, as the automobile company uses “Leave the World Behind” as the theme for their upcoming advertising campaign for the new Volvo XC60.

Stunning Pics directed by Adam Berg

Wish all commercials were this way.

Credit: Digital Wolke